Booktrope Editions | June 24, 2015 | New Adult Romance
★★★★1/2
SOURCE: BOOK ENTHUSIAST PROMOTIONS
My name is Kendall Carrington—or so I thought.
One night, a routine traffic stop turned the world I thought I knew upside down. I wasn’t who I thought I was. No one was. I had been kidnapped when I was young, and everything I had been told was all a lie. But the lies didn’t end there. If it hadn’t been for Lincoln Hunt, I might not have ever found out the truth.
My real name is Danielle Tucker.
This is my story of pain, betrayal, and finding the true meaning of home.
{ add to goodreads } .
{ about leddy harper } .
Leddy Harper had to use her imagination often as a child. She grew up the only girl in a house full of boys. At the age of fourteen, she decided to use that imagination and wrote her first book, and never stopped.She often calls writing her therapy, using it as a way to deal with issues through the eyes of her characters.
She is now a mother of three girls, leaving her husband as the only man in a house full of females.
The decision to publish her first book was made as a way of showing her children to go after whatever it is they want to. Love what you do and do it well. Most importantly Leddy wanted to teach them what it means to overcome their fears.
{ review } .
A burnt out tail light and life as Kendall Carrington knows it is forever changed.
The cop who pulls her over? He has the same eyes as she -- an odd light color with a dark blue ring that have tendencies toward green. She is then thrust into a new world with a therapist, a grandmother, and an Uncle Jack (ass). As Kendall, she was newly eighteen. Turns out, she's six months shy of it and has no say in what happens in her world.
She doesn't want to believe these people who tell her her name is Danielle, that Billy was abusing her, that John kidnapped her. She just wants to go home -- to the only home she's known. But when Jeri (the grandmother she refuses to call that) cries, she cries like Kendall. And there's no mistaking the eyes she shares with this family.
But still -- they took her away from the only home she knows.
Jeri compromises with her -- make a friend here and she'll get a phone. Jeri knows that Danielle/Kendall will call Billy, she's not dumb -- but she wants Danielle/Kendall to try -- she's missed out on her granddaughter's last fourteen years (my goodness, I wanted to cry for Jeri and Link's recollection of her over the years) and she has no doubt that if and when she goes back to Billy, she'll never see her again. She just wants these six months.
I was torn in rating this title. I have a note half-way through saying 'no more than 4' because there was a point in Kendall/Danielle's research that I felt the story dragged, but in the end... it all worked out and I was happy.
As a reader, we only get Kendall/Danielle's side of the story. We see her go through a range of emotions, from anger to confusion to acceptance. But the one theme that drove me the most crazy was Kendall's continuous belief that Billy, with his quick temper and foul ways, was the one for her. Again and again, she denies the growing feelings she has with her new friend, Link, because they're different from what she feels with Billy.
"...You have two guys -- one that has done nothing but stand by your side, and another that's done everything in his power to erase you from his life, and you will always choose him." --Link
I loved Link from page one (well... his page one). He proved to be a good friend right from the beginning, getting her to talk when no one else could. He gave her support and friendship. As the world crumbled around her, when she was making the transition from Kendall to Danielle, he was her rock, her confidant. He would do anything for her, and he proves himself again and again -- it only takes Danielle a few times to recognize it and welcome it.
"If I were in love with someone the way you say he is with you, I would wait for her to come back. I wouldn't give in the moment desperation or temptation hits. It's what you do when you love someone." --Link
Without going to far into it, there starts to be a sort of love triangle in this story -- but mostly it stems from miscommunication. Kendall/Danielle is confused -- rightfully so. Regardless of the circumstances, she likely did suffer from some sort of Stockholm syndrome. No matter how bad Billy was toward her, how much he pushed her away, she continuously wanted to crawl back -- because it was what she knew. She was an extremely bright girl -- but due to the life she lived and the sheltered circumstances, she held herself back. As Danielle, though, she learns to stretch her wings, broaden her boundaries, and make it to her full potential.
The relationship between Link and Danielle is slow to start, and they go through heavy trials, but if there's one thing that is painfully evident on the pages, it's that Lincoln Hunt loves Danielle Tucker to the moon and back. At the beginning of their story, their young ages were extremely obvious. As they learned to grow together and battle hurdles, though, they both grew up -- Link maybe a little more than Danielle.
So while at times I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the story, looking back I truly did enjoy it.
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